Tuesday, September 4, 2012

frequently asked questions : some answers

If you commented or emailed me in response to my frequently asked questions post - thank you. I've thoroughly enjoyed considering the questions and creating the relevant 'answers'. But, you know, time time time. I'm in the midst of writing a few posts including: "an insight into Che & Fidel - behind-the-scenes" and "establishing and growing a freelance writing career." There will be more posts in my Q&A series about yoga and birth too, as well as the creation of a FAQ page on my sidebar. However, waiting can be tedious so I thought I would answer a few FAQ here. And to all those readers who emailed asking about the big, evenly spaced photos....read on.What did you study at university and did it influence your writing in any way?I studied a Bachelor of Arts in Communications (Journalism) at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). On day one I was asked to go out and find a story - journalists are never shy. Over three years I studied a range of subjects including the mandatory theory classes, media and law, radio, television, investigative journalism and feature writing. I also delved into fiction and loved classes on short story writing, poetry and novel writing. I think what I learnt most upon finishing my degree was that I would never be a gritty, up-all-night-to-find-the-story journalist. I was never interested in the graveyard shift (the very beginning of a cadetship) at the local paper nor did I have aspirations to be the next Kate Adie. What I did have was a love of words, the ability to write a good sentence and the desire to write stories that would inform and inspire. I started writing freelance for magazines shorty after I graduated.What skincare products do you use?I started using Aesop about a year ago and I absolutely love it. I have quite dry, sensitive skin so the parsley seed facial cleansing oil and parsley seed anti-oxidant facial toner has worked wonders. Once a week I use the purifying facial exfoliant paste and I always moisturise with camellia nut facial hydrating cream. Happy to say that my skin is the best it's ever been. And the lovely glass bottles look rather lovely all lined up in a row. What's the hardest thing about being married?I couldn't tell you because Daniel and I aren't married, yet. We'll say 'we do' sometime soon in a very simple and personal ceremony. The only thing we've organised for our wedding day - the photographer.How do you make your photos so big and evenly spaced?Ok....here goes.I'm a perfectionist so uneven spacing and photos at different widths just won't do. Hence I've spent hours figuring out the world of html. First things first....make sure you have the updated blogger interface. Then...

scroll down until you see the words header-wrapper - underneath this title is a number followed by px (pixels) - the width of your blog in pixels. Mine is 940px

scroll down further and you will come to main-wrapper - this is your post section. Mine is 740px wide (I recently widened it from 640px so my photos are bigger)

so now I know that my photos need to be 740px wide (if your main wrapper is only 350px wide, or thereabouts, your photos are never going to be that big because there's just not the space needed in your main wrapper aka post column. So, you need to widen your post column by adjusting the size of your left and right columns and adding the extra 'space' to your post column).

Now it's time to upload your photos.

If you re-size your photos before uploading, resize them to 740px wide (or whatever the width of your main-wrapper is) and once they are uploaded choose to make them original size by clicking on the photo while composing your post.

If you upload your photos as full size (which means they're really big) you need to make them original size and then click HTML (it's next to the compose button in the top left-hand corner). In the HTML is the photo information. You'll see s1600 - change it to s740 or whatever your main-wrapper is. However, if you are uploading a portrait photo instead of landscape you need to do some maths. Basically you need to half the main-wrapper number and add it to the original main-wrapper. Hence I would halve 740 (370) and add 370 to 740 = 1110. If I'm resizing a portrait image I change the s1600 to s1110.

Breathe.

For those wanting to know more about the diptychs (two photos side-by-side) that I feature - I create them in Photoshop.Perhaps this makes no sense whatsoever. If you have any more questions about photos and sizing I'm happy to answer them in the comments section. And I'll bring tech-savvy Daniel along for the ride.